Would love to hear opinions, ideas, discussion about this city's service. It has always interested me. It seems to be too big for some things and not big enough for others.
Delta has downsized footprint there, plus closing pilot base. It always seemed to be not big enough for what Northwest had going at DTW and MSP. Apparently, Delta will stop the daily nonstop to AMS soon, relegating it to maybe 3 services per week. Historically, it had done well for Northwest. Apparently, only about 30 per cent of the load factor goes to locals, the other 70 hubbing in.
Now that Southwest has AirTran, I wonder if Southwest will do something additional to the feeder service provided by AirTran to ATL. I am sure that Delta has sky high fares from MEM. I would think that Southwest could provide several destinations at lower prices. Word has it that a fair number of originating MEM passengers go to Little Rock and take advantage of Southwest service there, just because of fare differences.
My understanding is that the metro population in MEM is about 1.3 million. It would seem that not many people must fly.
Ideas?

My parents have lived in Memphis for 14 years, so I've flown in and out quite a bit. It's always been a very expensive city for flights. Many times I tried to convince them to drive to BNA to pick me up, and they have many friends who fly out of Little Rock or Nashville to take advantage of Southwest's lower fares. We were hopeful that the Air Tran/Southwest deal would bring lower fares to MEM.

They complain a lot about how service has gone downhill since the Delta-NW merger. Delta has cancelled tons of flights that NW used to operate out of Memphis, so now you have to go through ATL to get almost anywhere. My parents have several other friends who specifically retired in MEM to take advantage of the hub and nonstops to AMS, etc, and they are very unhappy now that Delta is getting rid of those flights.

And never check a bag if you fly into MEM. It will take 30+ min for it to arrive on the carousel.

After the merger with Northwest, Delta found it had too many hubs, so it cut back at MEM and CVG since those hubs are close to ATL and DTW.

Many cities have been de-hubbed recently: Pittsburgh by US Airways, St. Louis by American, Dallas by Delta, and so on. I don't think MEM will lose its hub altogether any time soon, but it will continue to shrink.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Southwest having plans to give Memphis some expanded service?
I agree that Delta will maintain a presence of some kind there. I remember the 60s and early 70s, when Delta had an attendant base there with north-south traffic. Chicago and Detroit on the northern ends to New Orleans and Houston on the southern end, with Memphis in the middle. Stops at times in Saint Louis or Indianapolis or Jackson or Shreveport, plus flights to Atlanta and Kansas City. Eventually, it was phased out.

I am looking to go to MEM end of July for the Airliner international 2012 collectible show. THe show will be at Hilton Memphis, but fares from ORD-MEM is close to $600, whereas ORD-BNA is only around $200.

It seems like the only way for me to go from MEM to BNA is bus, which I take a look on megabus, it would only cost me $6 roundtrip for a 4 hours and 25 min trip.

I have never been to MEM, BNA, or even taken a bus trip in the US, does it sound possible or logical or safe to do this ?

So it would be like flying into BNA, then go to Commerce St b/t 5th Ave N and 4th Ave N (that is what it said for the bus stop), and it arrive at MATA North End Terminal, from there I have to find a way to go to Hilton Memphis.

Anyone familiar with BNA and MEM can point me to the right direction or if this is feasible at all ?

I am looking to go to MEM end of July for the Airliner international 2012 collectible show. THe show will be at Hilton Memphis, but fares from ORD-MEM is close to $600, whereas ORD-BNA is only around $200.

It seems like the only way for me to go from MEM to BNA is bus, which I take a look on megabus, it would only cost me $6 roundtrip for a 4 hours and 25 min trip.

I have never been to MEM, BNA, or even taken a bus trip in the US, does it sound possible or logical or safe to do this ?

So it would be like flying into BNA, then go to Commerce St b/t 5th Ave N and 4th Ave N (that is what it said for the bus stop), and it arrive at MATA North End Terminal, from there I have to find a way to go to Hilton Memphis.

Anyone familiar with BNA and MEM can point me to the right direction or if this is feasible at all ?

I live here in MEM...

1st, Hilton Memphis if its the tower Hilton is NOT downtown...You would have to get a cab or something to get to East Memphis from the bus terminal. If you were downtown, we have a Trolley that you can catch from the North End Termial to the downtown hotels..

2nd When we drive MEM to Nashville, it takes 3+ hours, so that time isnt bad. But your problem is the Hotel location...